As many of you might know there is no road tax here in France - yippee. However if you were able to buy a Fiat Coupe 20VT new this year the pollution tax at first registration based on Co2 emissions would be 10,500 Euros and next year it is rising to 12,500 Euros

A new Renault Clio GT (if that's the correct nomenclature) will now be the same in pollution tax as a Bugatti Veyron. The upper limit has been set at 210 grams Co2 which the Renault just clips but all the super cars far exceed! There are a few discussion threads regarding the idea of returning to an annual road tax...

I'm not hugely surprised, Clanger. Though I imagine the Gilets Jaunes will be dusting off their vests...
Is the CT still every 3 years? I seem to remember having to get a fresh one when selling my last car in France as it had to be within 6 months.

Hi Jim,
CT is every 2 years and is getting tougher, the testers have clearly had an unofficial instruction to get more picky over and above the published tightening of the regs. Yes its still needs to be within 6 months to be able to register the vehicle in the new owners name - lots of cars are actually being driven with the reg document in the previous owners name!!

I think this level of eco tax being administered in this way is actually just storing up a problem for the future; The manufacturers are being driven to smaller and smaller engines to reduce the stated Co2 and hence the tax, combined with cars that actually seem to be getting bigger raises issues of vehicle longevity. The people buying new on a pcp plan every few years, handing it back and taking another are fine its the subsequent owners that will suffer. The older models had a level of inherent over engineering i.e. 1800 diesel in an Espace etc. would comfortably achieve 200k miles on its engine before significant issue provided it was kept well serviced. Putting a 1 liter petrol in the same size vehicle and expecting the same level of service is unrealistic in my view - third and forth hand cars will not be a viable proposition. Perhaps we are moving towards disposable cars.

Used old cars are expensive in France and a large percentage of the population are working poor and rely on them - we still have people in our commune living on tamped earth floors and running an old Renault 5 diesel. The eco taxes mean used car prices will only increase and this will directly effect the people that support the Gilets Jaunes, who have not gone away btw their into week 46 or thereabouts, the media just refuses to report on them. This eco agenda is only just getting going, the current direction of travel does not bode well and given the old phrase "no man is an island" it won't just be France.

Guy

I'm pretty much ignorant of the French way of automobiles taxing & the like. The motorist pays a big price these days for owning any car. Read in our local paper recently that to cover the cost of repairing pot holes in our area, something in the region of forty million, an extra forty quid will be paid by motorists has been suggested to cover costs.

And there was me thinking I'd covered some of that off

I guess my point is that this eco agenda is going to cause more issues within society in future than most people currently realise. I see France as a bell weather for these issues given the French penchant for protest

Yes I did get your drift, my point was just, the motorist is paying to own a car in more ways than one.